EDITORIAL — Returning to its old self

The latest news to come out of Afghanistan is that the Taliban, the paramilitary/political/religious organization that rules that country, has banned women from singing or reading in public.

Of course, that also means no more songs by women on the radio or TV, and no more women broadcasters reading the news.

According to Article 13 of their new rules, women should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public because a woman’s voice is deemed intimate. This is the same section that dictates that a woman must veil her body at all times to avoid being corrupted, and to not look at men they aren’t related to by blood or marriage.

“Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice,” said ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq.

Of course, it makes absolute sense! Restrict the women so that the men will not be tempted!

We are being sarcastic here, by the way.

This is how far the Taliban has come to suppress women since coming back into power in 2021.

It wasn’t sudden. It began with banning women from school. Then the requiring of them to wear the full-body burqa. Now the banning of them from singing or reading in public. We think that as a natural progression of things women will soon be banned from speaking at all in public as well.

Slowly but surely the Taliban is returning to its old self and reverting Afghanistan to what it was before it was liberated in 2003. It does things little by little so as not to cause that much indignation from the rest of the world.

We still insist that the Free World failed Afghanistan when the coalition left it in a hurry for the Taliban to take over in 2021. This is a failure that will not be forgotten for a long time and have repercussions.

We also still think this will be something that the Free World will come to regret once the Taliban thinks Afghanistan is again safe enough to sponsor or harbor terrorist groups.